SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The annual Bill & Lynn Foggle Great Issues Lecture Series will be held at Temple Beth El, 979 Dickinson Street in Springfield, on Sunday, May 15 at 11:00 am.  The keynote speaker will be world-renowned journalist and author Bari Weiss who will discuss ““How Do We Revive Our Civil Discourse: Finding the Courage to Change.”  This program, which will be both in-person and livestreamed, is free and open to the community.

Bari Weiss is the editor of the online newsletter Common Sense and the host of the podcast Honestly.  From 2017 until 2020, Bari was a staff writer and editor for the Opinion section of The New York Times. Controversial and thought-provoking, for many years, Bari Weiss was a rising star on the national scene while writing for the New York Times. Her “tell it like it is” honesty, bringing in disparate voices not usually amplified, and her willingness to wade into the heart of controversy made her a must-read.  Young and old readers alike resonated with her provocative style.  Then, after three years, she abruptly resigned following the 2016 election.  In her open letter to the paper, she explained that instead of really listening to all Americans to understand what is actually going on in this country, the Times’ approach had been “that truth isn’t a process of  collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is 

to inform everyone else.”  Further, she explained that her colleagues at the Times publicly smeared her for taking a stand and speaking her truth.  In her words, “… the truth is that intellectual curiosity – let along risk-taking – is now a liability at the Times.”

Before joining the Times, Bari was an op-ed editor at the Wall Street Journal and an associate book review editor there. For two years, she was a senior editor at Tablet, the online magazine of Jewish news, politics, and culture, where she edited the site’s political and news coverage. She regularly appears on shows like The View, Morning Joe and Real Time with Bill Maher.

Bari is a Pittsburgh native and a graduate of Columbia University. She is the winner of the Reason Foundation’s 2018 Bastiat Prize, which annually honors writing that “best demonstrates the importance of freedom with originality, wit, and eloquence.” 

Her first book, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” was a Natan Notable Book and the winner of a 2019 National Jewish Book Award.

Through the Foggles’ generous gift, the lecture series attracts a world-class speaker annually who stimulates thought and lively exploration of ideas about today’s most challenging global issues.